Health officials in El Paso County said Tuesday morning that a bat found in northeast Colorado Springs tested positive for rabies.

“El Paso County Public Health is urging residents to keep pets up to date on rabies vaccination,” officials said in a news release.

The rabid bat is the first found this year.

The county health department says no one should ever feed or touch stray or wild animals.

“Feeding wild animals makes them less afraid of people and brings large numbers of animals into small areas,” the release said. “This increases the risk of transmission of disease to humans and pets. Unvaccinated pets or livestock are at risk of infection, which also puts owners or family members at risk.”

Politics reporter. He has worked at The Denver Post since the summer of 2014, covering cops, courts, politics, environment, skiing and everything in between. He loves telling stories about Colorado's mountain towns and the Eastern Plains and wants to make sure our newspaper's great work extends into their communities.